The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system has a new superintendent.
The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday to hire Dr. Beverly Emory as the next superintendent of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools.
Emory currently serves as the Pitt County Schools superintendent, a position she has held since 2006. She says she's looking forward to working with the community.
“I'm very excited. I think that our districts have a lot of similarities, the diverse population. I'm also attracted to the incredible partnerships here, the collaboration. The fact that this search was even funded by other stakeholders and partners speaks volumes to me as a new person about the investment of this community in their education system,” says Emory.
Emory is a native of Marion, North Carolina. Her 30-year career in education includes nearly 20 years as a superintendent. She's also held positions as a superintendent in Ohio, a middle school teacher in McDowell County and an elementary principal in South Carolina.
The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board says it chose Emory for her experience and accomplishments. During her leadership with Pitt County Schools, she helped increase graduation rates more than 15 points, decreased dropout rates and improved student achievement levels.
Emory says one of her goals is to help improve reading proficiency for pre-K and elementary students.
“The biggest issue to me in graduation is systemic. How do we ensure every second grader leaves second grade reading on second grade level or above? If we don't we remediate them, we spent billions of dollars remediating them and so the big challenge is how do we invest in pre-k,” says Emory.
Some community members raised concerns with Emory about diversity in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and resources for a growing Hispanic population in the city. Emory says because the school district recently converted to a new assessment system, she will take a closer look at the data and outcomes.
“If we don't overcome the language barrier immediately, we don't have the opportunity to engage. What I have also learned is that parents in that community are very involved and engaged if we communicate with them. I need to see if we have translators to help at our PTA meetings and records in language that parents can understand,” says Emory.
Emory says she had one requirement for the board if she accepted the superintendent position: She has to visit schools in her district every Friday to meet with staff and see how schools are performing. Her goal is to visit all of the schools before her start date on July 1.
Meanwhile, the community will get a chance to learn more about their new education leader during a public forum at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 27 in the auditorium of the Education building on Bethania Station Road.
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